The Man Who Never Speaks

16. Light On The Horizon

"Please picture me
In the trees
I hit my peak at seven feet
In the swing
Over the creek
I was too scared to jump in."

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FP looked around his small but cosy living room, anxiety already flowing through his veins. It had been his own idea, but he was scared of all the things he would find, or to realize that there was no way out for him here, that he'd always be stuck no matter how hard the tried to fight to be part of the real world.

The living room was filled with every single thing he owned, making him realize for the very first time how many things he had that he had forgotten about. Still, seeing it now made it impossible not to care about throwing it away.

"I have no idea where to start..." He said a little sadly, as his eyes shifted along all the boxes and bags with all the stuff he owned. It was surprising how much someone could collect in a house that was this small.

"Do you have things that you definitely don't want to throw away?" Alice walked over to him and placed her hand on his chest to softly stroke up and down to calm him. She had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy, but she was going to help him however she could.

"That's basically everything, Alice." He said quietly, his cheeks flushing a deep shade of red.

For someone who had barely left his house for the last two decades, everything he had collected had grown to be part of him, even the tiniest little trinket he had.

FP walked over to one of the boxes that was filled with little elephants, another dozen that didn't fit in his living room anymore, but still had kept all these years. Everytime he came across one, he just needed to buy it. It always felt like Fred stopped by when his eye fell on one. How could he not take it with him? It had turned out into the biggest collection he ever had.

"I know it sounds silly to keep all these elephants... but I can't throw them away. It feels like throwing away part of Fred." FP said to himself, but loud enough for Alice to hear. He fiddled with one of the trinkets in his hands, staring at it as if he was trying to see if there was a trace of his best friend left.

"That's okay. You can keep them. They give you comfort." Alice wrapped her arms around him from behind and pressed a soft kiss on his back. He relaxed the slightest bit by her touch.

"And if we would live together, someday?" He turned around, making her hands fall from his stomach. His insecure eyes met hers and for a brief second he had expected that she didn't see that kind of future for them, but his anxiety was taken away very quickly.

"Even then." Her eyes sparkled and she offered him a sweet smile.

He sighed happily. Every single day, she became more perfect to him. Neither of them knew when they were ready to take the step, but one day they were sure they'd spend every single day together. This was just the beginning of their story, they had the time.

"What about these boxes? It looks like a bunch of old newspapers." Alice turned to the ones on the couch and made a little room for them on the small wooden dinner table.

"And here? All these mugs?" She placed another one next to it and gave him a questionable look. It might be a better idea to begin with things that didn't have (or had less) any emotional value.

"That's a good start." FP nodded in agreement. Without her, he would have given up in the first minute.

While she started to look through the mugs, FP started to search in the boxes with the newspapers, which mostly contained ones that he hadn't thrown away for a reason he couldn't quite remember. Maybe because he always had trouble throwing stuff away, no matter if it had value to him or not.